George it



(No Model.)

G. H. AQYLWORTH. GATE.

No. 444,325. PatentedjJan. 6, 1891.

UNITED STATES Y PATENT FFICE.

GEORGE II. AYLWORTI-l, OF BRIGHTON, ILLINOIS.

GATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,325, dated January6, 1891.

Application filed July 18, 1890. Serial No. 359,154- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. AYLWORTH, of Brighton, in the county ofMacoupin and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Gates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingapart of this specification.

This may be regarded as in some respects an improvement upon the devicepatented to me June 12, 1888, and numbered 384,552, the gate beingopened and closed by ropes extending along the side of the road a shortdistance in both directions, and the cord acting todisengage the latchbefore any strain comes upon the gate to swing it on its hinges.

My present improvement applies partly to a device to avoid the moving ofthe cord which at the time may be inactive and partly to the form of thelatching device, the novelties being set forth in the claims.

Figure I is a perspective View of the llIlproveinent. Fig. II is anenlarged vertical section at II II, Fig. III. Fig. III is a detail sideview of the latching device with the cords removed. Fig. IV is avertical transverse section at IV IV, Fig. III. Fig. V is an enlargedvertical section at V V, Fig. I.

1 is the hinge-post, and 2 the latch-post, of the gate. j

4 are the hinges connecting the gate to the post 1.

5 is a latch pivoted at the inner end 6 to the gate and extendingthrough a vertical slot in the end piece 7.

8 is the catch, secured to the latch-post 2 and having a central recess9 to receive the end 10 of the latch. On each side of the recess areinclines 11, up which the end of the latch may slide.

12 is a slidingand swinging stop-piece,wl1ich passes through a slot 13in the bracket 14,whicl1 is secured to the latch-post. The piece 12widens at the lower end 15 and has at the upper end a head 16, whichnormally rests upon the top of the bracket, so that the piece 12 hangsin a vertical position and its lower end closes the top of the recess 9,as seen in broken lines in Fig. II. This is the position it occupieswhen the gate is closed. As the gate is closing, the latch hits thestop-piece 12 and carries it with it into the position shown in fulllines in Fig. II, which is as far as it can be forced from the verticalposition, as the sides of the stop piece 12 then bear against the endsof the slot 13, so that the gate cannot swing from one side to the otherpast the catch, but is arrested each time by the stop 12. The latch isarrested in proper position to fall into the recess 9,which it does assoon as the cord is released. As soon as theend of the latch falls intothe recess 9 the stop-piece regains its vertical position, as seen inbroken lines in Fig. II. IVhen the latch is lifted by the cord, itcarries up the stop-piece withit and is free to escape either Way,according as the gate is opened to one side or the other.

17 is a grooved pulley, which turns freely on the latch, and which actsas a weight to depress the free end of the latch when released from theupward pull of the cord. The two cords 18 and 19 are similarin allrespects, one of them acting to throw the gate in one direction and theother in the other direction. A description of one cord will applyequally to the other, except as to the described opposite action on thegate. One end 20 of each cord is fixed to the lower side of thepulley-weight 17 when it is in its normal position, (see Fig. IV,) sothat on the pulling of either cord the pulley will turn to the right orthe left, as the case may be. Suppose the cord 18 to be pulled, thepulley would turn in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. IV, andthe cord 19 would be coiled upon the pulley as the cord 18 uncoiled fromit. It will be seen that the position of the cord 19, except for thatpart of it coiled upon the pulley, would be unchanged and that thepulley would ascend half the distance that the cord 18 ascended. Thecords extend upward from the pulley and pass over pulleys 21, and fromthe pulleys 21 through the eye 22 of a post 23, fixed to the top rail 24of the gate.

26 is a lever whose frontend is strapped to the post 23 so as to turnfreely on the post. The lever passes through a swivel-eye 27, havingbearing at the top of the hinge-post 1. This swivel-eye forms thefulcrum of the lever. From the eye 22 the cords pass to and through aneye 28 at the end of the lever 26,

from which point the cords separate, eXtend-- ing along the side of theroad in opposite direetions. Each cord extends from the eye 28 to apulley 29 upon a post- 3 The post has a hollow case 31, containing aweight 232, to which is fixed thehousing 33 of two grooved pulleys 3 t.

At 35 are grooved pulleys turning in bearings fixed to the side of thepost so. The cord extends from the pulley 29 over one of the pulleys235, then beneath one of the pulleys 3i, then over the other pulley 35and beneath the other pulley 3i, and then up to a point 36 on the post30, to which the end of the cord is fixed.

37 are posts having catches 38, upon which the latch o engages when thegate is swung open.

The operation of the device is as follows: Suppose a person to pull thecord 18, for this purpose taking hold of the part of the cord betweenpulleys 29 and 35. The latch 5 will first be lifted, carrying up with itthe stop-piece 12. As soon as the latch attainsits upper position thecord acts on the lever '36 and draws its rear end (at 28) toward thepulley 29, (of the cord 18.) The end 10 of the latch 5 passes frombeneath the stop-piece 12 and the gate swings open away from the personwho is pulling the cord. The latch engages in the catch 38 and the gateremains open until the cord 19 is pulled, which lifts the latch 5 fromthe catch 38 and swings the gate shut, the latch hitting the stop-piece12 and the movement oi. the gate being arrested with the latch over therecess 9, into which the end of the latch drops. As soon as the personleaves hold of the cord the slack of the cord is taken up by the weight3:2, but never with force enough to lift the latch 5. It will beunderstood that when either of the cords (18 or 19) is drawn while thelatch is ascending, the other cord will be at perfect rest, except thatpartot it which is wound upon the pulley 17, and that when the pulleyhas been turned one-half of a revolution the latch will be above therecess 0 of the catch and will have reached its upper position, so thatthere will be no endwise movement of the inactive cord. As the gateswings open the inactive cord will be drawn outward from thecase31, andwhen thelateh has reached the post 37 the active cord is released andthe latch drops into the catch 38. The descent of thelateh takes placewithout any end movement of the inactive cord, for it will be seen thatthe only part of the cords drawn endwise by the latch in descendingisthat part of the active cord between the hand of the operator and thelatch. This is a very important feature, because the cord being in theopen air is liable to be rendered rigid by moisture, and thus the weightof the pulley and the latch, which might be ample to draw down one cord,might be inadequate to draw down the other cord at the same time. Thereis a practical advantage in widening the lower end 15 of the stop-piece12, because, as a result, the edge against which the latch strikes 011the closing of the gate is perpendicular, and so does not force the freeend of the gate downward, as would be the case if the width were notincreased at the lower end. This is illustrated in Fig. II. If the latchshould strike against a surface so inclined as to force the latchdownward, it would cause the sagging of the free end of the gateaninjury to which gates are very liable.

I claim as new and of my invention- 1. The combination, with agate-latch, of two latch-lifting cords, as 18 19,anda weightpulley 17,turning freelyon the latch, to which the ends of both cords areattached, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, in a gate, of the latch 5, a weight-pulley 17,turning freely thereon, and two lifting-cords attached to the lower partof the pulley at one end and connected with a weight at the other end,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with a gate-latch and a catch 8, provided with arecess 9, of the swinging stop-piece 12, formed with a flared lower end15, having straight side edges, and a support for the stoppiece, inwhich it has limited movement to bring either of its side edges inperpendicular fixed position over the opposite side of the recess fromwhich the lower end is moved, substantiallyas described.

GEORGE ll. AYLWORTI'I.

Witnesses:

W. 11. GooDnLL, G. I). AYLwoR'rH.

